What would Quintilian do if he was an apprentice’s line Manager?

Happy National Apprenticeship week everyone!

Quite rightly, the focus of this week is on Skills for Life and the positive impact apprenticeships can have on the apprentices and their development.

I would like to take a moment to turn our attention to another key player in the apprenticeship world; the apprentice’s line manager.

Yes, the line manager represents the sponsoring organisation in the tripartite agreement, connecting with the learning provider and the apprentice themselves.

The dashing chap pictured above?

Oh, that’s Quintilian, a Roman educator from circa 35 -100 AD.

The reason I’ve brought him into the frame is because it has been reported that his primary focus as an early educator was his commitment towards ‘arranging the victories for students’

From the quote, I can’t help but get a sense of thought and planning in the process of ‘arranging victories’ rather than the assumption that they simply appear as if by magic.

One of the challenges sometimes experienced by apprentices is in them getting valuable exposure to experiences within their role, and which enable them to demonstrate valuable application of knowledge, skills and behaviours.

So, if Quintilian were about today, I think he would take a proactive approach even before the apprentice has started their apprenticeship.

He would most likely be curious as to the most common challenges experienced by apprentices in terms of them getting sufficient and meaningful exposure to workplace opportunities.

He would ask learning providers (from their experience) where these more challenging examples feature within the programme and he would perhaps start to ponder as to any approaches he could take to plan the opportunities in tune with the rhythm of the apprentice’s journey.

For example, the apprentice may be relatively new into role and have solely been focused on internal stakeholder engagement. The apprentice may now be required to demonstrate evidence of external stakeholder engagement, contracting and negotiation.

Quintilian would see the 'victory' as being that meaningful and purposeful learning experience for the apprentice, and would begin his planning, off the back of his curiosity and fact finding with the learning provider and the apprentice. I don't think he would being doing the work for the apprentice, simply arranging the opportunities.

This would enable Quintilian to move beyond the technical and explicit aspects of the line manager role within an apprenticeship where they are required to attend progress meetings or sign off gateway completion documents. Quintilian would be developing a more active and informed role, therefore strengthening his part of that triangulated relationship with the learning provider and the apprentice.

In addition, Quintilian wouldn't just see the victories being associated with the apprentice and the successful completion of their programme.

The approach taken by Quintilian would also be arranging the victories for the organisation as a whole, recognising the significant role he plays as a line manager in helping to maximise the wider value chain; all made possible by the new knowledge, skills and behaviours that an apprentice can bring to an organisation.

If you are a line manager of an apprentice, what do you do to arrange the victories for your apprentice?

#naw #apprenticeship